FIVB World Tour Boracay Open to test mettle of SEA Games aspirants

Photo by Bong Lozada/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—The potential Philippine representatives in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games are about to face premier competition in the next few days.

Beach Volleyball Republic co-founder Charo Soriano said that the players who will play in the FIVB World Tour Boracay Open are also the ones who will represent the Philippines in the biennial regional games.

The Philippines will field three men’s teams and five women’s pairs, led by the duo of Cherry Rondina and Bernadeth Pons, in the one-star tournament on May 23 to 26 at White House Beach Resort in Station 1 and will compete against groups from across Europe, Asia, and Australia.

“This is for the Southeast Asian Games also and hopefully with the program, and everyone involved, we can create a long term development plan for beach volleyball,” said Soriano during the tournament’s press conference Sunday at The City Club.

“The [Philippine players] are already training since last year after the Manila Open and they’ve been playing not just in the BVR but also in the PSL (Philippine Super Liga).”

Soriano said that BVR had communicated with the country’s volleyball national sporting association Larong Volleybal ng Pilipinas, Inc., for the coaches in the SEA Games.

This will be the second time that the Philippines will host a one-star FIVB beach volleyball tournament after it held the Manila Open at SM Sands by the Bay in May 2018.

A total of 20 pairs from the Philippines, Lithuania, Singapore, Australia, Malayasia, Slovenia, Israel, Thailand, Japan and Russia will compete in the women’s division while there will be 28 men’s teams.

The three Filipino men’s teams will compete against pairs from Sweden, Frane, Australia, Japan, Oman, Austria, Malaysia, Russia, the Ukraine, Thailand, Singapore, Norway, and Chinese-Taipei.

“This is a very good chance for our local players to really develop their level of play through the international arena because they are not just competing against Southeast Asian teams but they are also going to compete against global teams,” said Soriano.